Gun control advocates generally aren’t the most honest individuals. Since most of the prophecies they’ve made in the past have failed to manifest they have become more reliant on outright fabrications to support their holy crusade. Sometimes these lies come in the form of manipulated statistics and other times they come in the form of misrepresenting current firearm laws. This is an example of the latter:
One of Connecticut’s gun manufacturers, PTR Industries, is departing the state in a melodramatic huff for gun-friendly South Carolina, complaining about the tightened gun safety laws enacted in Hartford by conscience-stricken legislators following the Newtown massacre.
The sad truth, of course, is that PTR Industries and the rest of the gun industry have absolutely nothing to fear from Connecticut’s tougher controls on military-style assault rifles and large-scale bullet magazines. That’s because in 2005, Congress and President George W. Bush, in shameless obeisance to the gun lobby, immunized arms manufacturers from damage suits by gunshot victims. The gun lobby had sought this protection after relatives of the eight sniper victims in Washington, D.C., won $2.5 million in damages from a rifle manufacturer.
This outrageous law, called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, can only be envied by other industries whose products might affect public safety.
From an editorial in the New York Times
If you read the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) you’ll note that it protects gun manufacturers from civil liability actions. In laymen’s terms the law prevents somebody who injured themselves with a firearm through negligence or was injured by a criminal using a firearm from bringing a civil liability lawsuit against the gun manufacturer. What the law doesn’t do is immunize gun manufacturers from local prohibitions. If a state passed a law that prohibited the manufacture of standard capacity magazines a manufacturer manufacturing standard capacity magazines could still be brought up on charges.
Implying that firearm manufacturers are immune from all laws because of the PLCAA is a lie, plain and simple.
Its a law that prevents Manufacturers from being sued for the actions of a third party. If their gun blows up in your face under normal operating conditions they are still liable but if you shoot yourself or others that is all on you, the same protection granted to Automobile manufacturers whose products are misused to kill many more people than firearms every year.